Congressman William Pascrell
New Jersey District 8
Dear Mr. Pascrell,
I am a resident of your district in New Jersey. I am also a student, parent, and teacher in the town of Nutley. I share concerns with many parents and educators about The No Child Left Behind Act that is being considered for revision and renual. As an educator and a parent , I feel that the law increased the number of "highly qualified" teachers in our schools and perhaps improved the level of instruction to our students. Unfortunately, the current annual assessments appear to be interfering with highly qualified instruction. By monitoring student progress through standardized tests, teachers have been pressured to focus too much attention on test scores and test preparation. Valuable instruction time and real world experiences in the classroom may be compromised because of "test phobia" .
NCLB is an unfair generalization of how proficient students are in math, language arts, and science.The tests are just a "snap shot" of what the individual has learned and accomplished in a year. Some students are good test takers and some just don't do well on tests such as these.These test scores are not true indicators of there proficiency level. Special education students and English language learners(ELL) have to take the same test even though they have special needs. All students do not develop at the same rate, therefore it is ridiculous to think that they should all be proficient at the same time.
Please consider scrapping the NCLB Act and look toward developing a program that puts its faith in the highly qualified teachers and the curriculum that they develop to meet the needs of the students. The program needs to be adequately funded and supported by the Federal Government to be effective. The teachers are the best judges to monitor student progress with assessment strategies that address the differentiated needs of the individual learner.
Thank You,
Frank Sasso
Mathematics Teacher
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3 comments:
I love one of your last comments about "putting our faith into the highly qualified teachers". It seems hypocritical of the government to first demand high standards from their teachers and then not allow them to use them.
Do you think the government should change what makes a highly qualified teacher? Right now it is purely based on a degree and a praxis test.
YES!
but much more than that
I will go so far to say that I am not sure about the entire profession - it is not valued in society
salary? obviously should refect a professional valued position
union? I believe teaching is the only "white-collar" profession that has a union - maybe that puts a stigma in how teachers are viewed in the community at large.
I say tenured should be out so that teachers always strive for excellence and new teachers should be able to bargin their salary based on worth not group politics. These recommendations would bring in new teachers eagerly crafting their talents. Teacher education can only lay a foundation, it is up to the teacher to seek out methodologies and techniques. Also, even the best most talented teacher can not work well in an environement that discredits and demoralized him/her. But that goes back to my first comment on unions and salaries. Why do principals and etc adminsrators make soo much more than teachers? why does it take practically a lifetime to be making the amount of money you should start out with? Why do my benefits, salary, activities, everything depend on the conscences of a whole, that may or may not have each indidividual teacher at heart?
I know these are radical statements and not popular ones (union) but I guess that is the beauty of technology - one can speak up...
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